well, i think they’re great.
honestly, except for obvious tax advantages i do not see a great need for gay marriage- but then i never much saw a real need for straight marriage. It definitely DOES provide some real legal advantages that we tend to have to arrange for otherwise- get married and you can, for example, make medical decisions and so on- whereas i have to do a PILE of legal paperwork to get the same rights a marriage certificate would give me. And taxes- that joint return would be amazing.

i dunno- i guess i tend to see the issues in a very practical light. I don’t see marriage as some spiritual thing- or at least the way i see it as a spiritual thing it needs no affirmation form any church- but it’s more a practical matter of laws and taxes and stuff. I think it’s more a matter of state than church- but that’s just me.

what i DO remember, though- once upon a time i lived in CIncinnati- which is kind of the asshole of the world in many ways- it’s where Jerry Springer started out- but i don’t want to get started on him. Anyway- one year there was a big deal about a “human rights” thing- they wanted to add sexual orientation to the housing policies. All that really meant was that you couldn’t be denied housing based on sexual orientation. So there was this big thing about it. And what i remember most clearly is that an African American church was kind of the lynchpin of the opposition- with their motto being “Equal rights, not special rights”. That made me chuckle- as there were a lot of cases regarding “reverse discrimination” being heard at the time.

Oddly, that was also the same election where the newly elected mayor outed herself as a Lesbian immediately following the election.

Marriage is on the ballot next week…backward: vote yes if you don’t want it kind of background,. Common law is in danger too. I think the insurance thing is the best of it, but it will not happen. Not now anyway.

many businesses actually DO the insurance thing. Patti’s insurance used to be WAY better than mine- and cheaper- so we did that. However when her department went poof and her job vanished she got to keep her insurance as part of “early retirement”- but since we weren’t married I did not. Had to do the COBRA thing until open enrollment at my place. That was no fun.

Then she started a new job- where again they offered domestic partnership coverage. They threatened to make us go to Key West and get “married” in the Chonch Republic, though.

and again, it’s all financial and legal stuff, so i do not see why churches get so upset about it. God’s going to do whatever he’s going to do to me when i die, right? So why can’t i enjoy some legal and financial benefits now? It’s not like i am asking the church to give me a “get out of hell free card.

eventually it’ll all change, i think. Obviously things have already changed a lot. Not enough, but a lot.